Sunday, May 27th, 2012

Obama Risks Credibility by Reinstating Discredited Military Commissions

By
Friday, May 15, 2009 at 8:48 am

Well, you’ve got to hand it to President Obama. He doesn’t really worry too much about pleasing the people who most ardently supported him as a presidential candidate.  As Spencer wrote, Obama is expected to announce today that he will revive the much-criticized military commissions to try detainees held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The government will try some Guantanamo detainees in federal courts, anonymous officials tell The Los Angeles Times, but administration officials “have concluded that some detainees can only be tried in military tribunals.”
As I wrote earlier this week, the only real reason for that is the desire to introduce evidence against the detainees that could not hold up in a federal court because it’s typically not reliable. That is, because it’s hearsay (or double or triple hearsay, as much of the evidence gathered by the CIA is); or because it was coerced from either the detainee himself, or from others subjected to coercive interrogations. And as the evidence has now shown, in testimony from witnesses ranging from former FBI agent Ali Soufan to alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that’s just not the kind of evidence you want to hang a conviction on.
Civil rights, human rights and criminal defense lawyers — even many current and former federal prosecutors — are going to be seriously disappointed. That’s because legal experts from across the political spectrum have been saying for months now that the federal court system is well-equipped to handle these cases.
More than hurting any alleged terrorists, this decision will disappoint Obama’s supporters and damage the credibility of the United States and its new, widely admired president, both at home and abroad.
Categories & Tags: Civil Rights| National Security| Obama| Politics| Torture| U.S.| | | | | | | | |

Comments

2 Comments

sy
Comment posted May 15, 2009 @ 8:24 pm

Lets go back to the very beginning the event, 911.

Mark you, the governments 911 commission did all it could to avoid confronting the question of who or what caused the towers to disintergrate in the manner witnessed. Considering the nature of the event on sept 11, 2001, the 911 comission SHOULD have been composed of Americas top scientist, physicist and structural engineers. Instead the commission was made up of almost all (except one) politicians.

Imagine that! All politicians!

Why pick politicians when clearly a scientific mind and its methods are more appropriate for uncovering the truth!.

And Inspite of their mission statement “to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks” The commission simply assumed from the 2nd page of its report that Al Qaeda and Osama were behind the destruction …..this, inspite of the lack of hard evidence (unless you consider hearsay hard evidence) linking anyone including Osama to 911.
No emails, No rehearsals, No computer hard drives,No data base, no vengeful wives desiring to turn their husband in, not even a fuzzy photograph or two. In fact, check the FBIs website and you will see that Osama is not even wanted in connection with 911! Imagine that !

And there is more…..much more. But lets just cut to the chase. Inspite of this uncertainty (in fact its likely because of this uncertainty) , these people are eager to go ahead with this kangaroo court which they clearly need. Why? to insure that some kind of patsy or better yet patsies are found guilty no matter what evidence is lacking. Damn the facts, full speed ahead.
Imagine that! Politicians, instead of the best scientific minds, as investigators.

sy
Comment posted May 16, 2009 @ 3:24 am

Lets go back to the very beginning the event, 911.

Mark you, the governments 911 commission did all it could to avoid confronting the question of who or what caused the towers to disintergrate in the manner witnessed. Considering the nature of the event on sept 11, 2001, the 911 comission SHOULD have been composed of Americas top scientist, physicist and structural engineers. Instead the commission was made up of almost all (except one) politicians.

Imagine that! All politicians!

Why pick politicians when clearly a scientific mind and its methods are more appropriate for uncovering the truth!.

And Inspite of their mission statement “to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks” The commission simply assumed from the 2nd page of its report that Al Qaeda and Osama were behind the destruction …..this, inspite of the lack of hard evidence (unless you consider hearsay hard evidence) linking anyone including Osama to 911.
No emails, No rehearsals, No computer hard drives,No data base, no vengeful wives desiring to turn their husband in, not even a fuzzy photograph or two. In fact, check the FBIs website and you will see that Osama is not even wanted in connection with 911! Imagine that !

And there is more…..much more. But lets just cut to the chase. Inspite of this uncertainty (in fact its likely because of this uncertainty) , these people are eager to go ahead with this kangaroo court which they clearly need. Why? to insure that some kind of patsy or better yet patsies are found guilty no matter what evidence is lacking. Damn the facts, full speed ahead.
Imagine that! Politicians, instead of the best scientific minds, as investigators.

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